And I Suddenly See You
by LaBelleRebel
Summary: 7th year Marauders. Sirius Black/Feisty OC. Fluffy, delightful, romantic comedy. *just updated! chapter 10 - the aftermath of making out with the dog-turned-human - SUPER CUTE and steamy, too! *
1. Chapter One

I knew it was going to be a horrible year the night everyone got to Hogwarts. Helen, Lily, and I were walking from the carriages to the Great Hall when Fabian Malfoy came up behind us, whistled in the patronizing way, and said, "Damn Mackenzie, I really missed seeing your ass over the summer." You understand why I whirled around and flew at him, I know you do. Well, in case you don't, I'll explain. First of all, Malfoy is the biggest jerk ever. Second of all, he knows I have an extremely short temper and loves to set me off. That whole scene was a rererererererererun; it had happened exactly seven times the year before. Third of all, because of those reasons, I really enjoy hitting him. He usually thinks it's funny, until I get a good punch in. He won't bother me for a couple weeks after that. My three older brothers taught me how to fight. I may be 5'2", but I'm dangerous. There are downsides to being a formidable fighter though... girls are kind of scared of me. I really only have two friends, Lily and Helen, who are also Gryffindor sixth years. There are two other Gryffindor girls in our year, Fawn and Gemma, but they don't like me, and they're rather prissy and annoying anyway. Helen is a tomboy who is obsessed with Quidditch, and Lily is quiet and smart and loves reading. And James Potter, but don't tell her I told you, and above all, DON'T tell James. Lily would kill me. You wouldn't think she'd kill anyone, but that girl is my best friend, and she might be quiet on the outside, but really, she is capable of just about anything. Except putting the moves on James, even though he is totally mad about her. I honestly do_ not_ understand her.

****

So anyway, I turn and run straight at Malfoy. I get up enough momentum to knock him flat to the ground, so I'm on top of him (if you get the wrong idea from that, please go stick your head in a toilet), and I get a nice punch in on his jaw, and I'm drawing back my elbow for more, when I feel hands on my shoulders. Damn. I sigh and get up, then turn around to see who it is. McGonagal. Double damn. You think she'd be easy, both as a teacher and a disciplinarian, because she's about twenty-five, and a woman. Professor Sprout is like that, and she's all "Oh, you're stressed out? Here, have an extension on the scroll, I want you all to get enough sleep. Sleep is so important!" McGonagal is completely the opposite. But still, I figure I might be able to appeal to her female side. "Professor, he was sexually harassing me. He whistled at me and made a comment about my butt," I say.

Professor McGonagal frowns, but it looks like she might be covering up a smile. "Ms. Mackenzie, _you_ were attacking him."

"I was provoked!"

She looks upward, as if I am trying her patience. "If everyone reacted to being 'provoked' like you do, this school would be a mad house. Detention, after school tomorrow. Meet me in my classroom, and I will tell you what you will be doing then."

Talk about a great way to start the year.

* * *

A bit later, we're all in the Great Hall, watching the first years get sorted. Helen's little brother, Lester, gets sorted into Gryffindor, and sits down next to Helen. He's the last kid to be sorted, because his and Helen's last name is Yonkos. Helen gives him a hug and I give him a noogie. Lester's a pretty cool kid for an 11-year-old. This year Lily and I stayed at the Yonkos' house for the week before school started, and I eventually earned Lester's reluctant respect by teaching him to fly a broom.

Professor Dumbledore says a few words (jingle, blubber, humdrum and sloop), and then we sing the Hogwarts song. The Great Hall is as beautiful as ever, with the magically suspended candles flickering cozily, and the ceiling speckled with stars and a few clouds that are covering the moon. Food appears on the tables: turkey, stuffing, roast beef, rolls, gravy, peas, creamed carrots, pasties, ham, caramelized onions, the spread goes on and on. I go straight for the mashed potatoes. After putting a large mound of mashed potatoes on my plate, I make a pool and pour some gravy in. Then I take some turkey and stuffing for the side. I dig in, focused on eating until I notice that food has started flying around the Gryffindor table. I love food fights! I load some creamed onions onto the serving spoon and aim them at Lily, who is sitting across from me. I let them fly, but she ducks just in time, and they land on the back of a Ravenclaw at the next table over. The boy turns and charms a green bean casserole to lift out of its dish and come flying toward me. I move sideways, but the boy adjusts its course and it hits me in the chest, splattering all over me. I laugh and dump stuffing on Helen's head. Lester decides to avenge my attack on his sister and pours gravy all over my head. I whitewash him in the enormous bowl of mashed potatoes. All of a sudden, all of the food, including what is on us, disappears, and we are left with empty plates and empty bowls. There is a collective sigh, because food fights are always eventually stopped in this manner, after Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster, has decided they've gotten out of control. I think that he secretly enjoys them almost as much we do, though, from the sparkle I see in his eyes.

He doesn't reprimand us, so Lily, who is a Gryffindor Prefect this year, and James Potter, who is the Head Boy, organize the first years, and we all walk up to the Gryffindor tower. James says the password, "camel hump", and we all walk into the Common Room. A fire is going, and the hearth is warm and comfortable, like the armchairs and sofas, and the red and gold decor. I go up to the dormitories as usual. I am not very sociable, and I don't feel comfortable hanging out in the Common Room, especially when Gemma and Fawn are there. Since they started crushing on the seventh year (then sixth year) boys last year, we've had an unspoken agreement that I can be left alone in the dormitory, and they'll stay in the Common Room.

Lily and Helen go up the stairs to the girls' dorm too, and I plop down on the bed that I've had for five years. "Addie, why don't you ever hang out in the Common Room?" Lily asks.

"I don't like it. It's crowded... and stuffy. Besides, Fawn and Gemma are always down there."

"You've got to get over your fear of Gemma and Fawn," Lily says.

I bolt upright. "I am not afraid of them!"

"You don't even want to be in the same room as them," Helen says. "I know everything they've done to you will never go away, but you _could_ just ignore them."

I frown, but don't say anything.

"If you're not afraid of them, prove it," Lily says. She walks out the door, and Helen gives me a pitying smile and follows. I drag my butt off the bed and plod after them. Lily knows I can't resist any sort of challenges or dares; she can be quite conniving when she wants to.

The Common Room is just as I predicted it would be. Crowded, a little too warm, and everyone being all jolly and gregarious. Not my scene. I feel a prickle of sweat under my arms, and am glad I put on my Sheer Magic deodorant this morning. I settle in a corner, and watch. Lily and Helen are sharing an enormous overstuffed velvet armchair, and I flash them and "I'm here, are you happy now?" grin. Lily rolls her eyes and Helen gives me a little wave. I gradually relax, and my gaze drifts over to where Fawn, Gemma, and some seventh year girls are flirting with the seventh year boys: James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. Except no one is really flirting with Peter.

Sirius is probably the most sought after boy in school, although it's definitely a close race between him and James; girls are crazy for his sense of humor and his wild escapades; the sort of the "bad boy" of the group. Oh, and I suppose they like his looks too, even _I _must admit he has a lovely smile. The thing about Sirius, though, is that he knows he's a looker, which makes him a bit of an arrogant prick.

James is the smart, intellectual type, and he's also the Captain of Quidditch team, and Head Boy this year. James is a bit of a prat too, and half the time, he does anything Sirius tells him to. He wears glasses, but he's the type that looks really good in glasses, if you know what I mean. (A/N: see J. Crew catalog) 

Remus is the quiet, shy, humble one, the one that would write you love poems and be totally romantic. I don't go for the whole romance thing much; poems have to be explained to me. I'd rather have an adventure or ride a roller coaster all day and then make out. Remus, even though he is the nicest, isn't as popular with the girls as James and Sirius (I don't get it!), but he definitely has a few admirers. 

Peter is the chubby one, the dull one, the tag along, the one that doesn't fit in, and nobody has a crush on him. Still, he's part of the group that all the underclassmen admire, so that makes him cool in most people's books.

Fawn is fawning over James. (No pun intended, because when anyone else besides myself makes a pun, I usually hate it. One pun that I've now forgotten has scarred me for life: every time someone says "Bear with me", I always think of "Bare with me" and end up snickering, which usually gets people annoyed with me.) I glance at Lily to see if she's noticed. I can't tell if it's the firelight on her cheeks, or if her cheeks are burning, but my guess is that it's the latter. When Lily gets mad, her cheeks go almost as red as her hair.

I wonder what will happen. Fawn knows that Lily is completely in love with James (she wouldn't be able to share a dormitory with her and not know), and this will piss Lily off, because Fawn seems to be making a show of it, probably for Lily's benefit, knowing that slag. Last year, Fawn and Gemma decided that they would be mates with Lily, so that she could help them with their homework. So Lily was being nice to them, sweet girl that she is, and helping them with their scrolls, and then Fawn said something like "Well, you aren't going to be friends with them [meaning Helen and me] anymore, are you?"

And Lily said," Of course I am, and you can totally forget about me doing your homework ever again," so then they decided to hate her. They start being so mean and catty to the poor girl, whispering about her in volume that she could just know that she was being talked about, but not hear what was being said, and giving her dirty looks all the time. Lily is the kind of girl who will ignore this all day, but then cry into her pillow all night.

After a few days of this, and much encouragement to Lily to just beat Fawn and Gemma up, I decided that I would do it for her. First though, I verbally whipped them in a way quite uncharacteristic to my usual style, because I would rather just get to the fighting as quickly as possible. Gemma felt bad after that, and didn't help Fawn out, when, after feeling no remorse, she spat in my face and called me a freak, and I started hitting her. It was a good fight; I won't go into the bloody details, but after that, Fawn decided that she and Gemma hated me, too.

My year was pretty hellish after that. I was able to pretend for a while that the whole whispering thing didn't bother me, winking or blowing kisses at them when they'd give me dirty looks, but then they started spreading rumors about me. First it was that I was pregnant, but then Fawn got more clever, because nobody had believed that one, and spread around the rumor that I'd killed my mother. Now this one doesn't sound very believable either, but my mother is dead, she died of breast cancer when I was ten, and most people know that I don't have a mother, because my dad has been in Witch Weekly's Top 20 List of Eligible Bachelors for the Older Set for three years running; he's pretty well known as a Quidditch commentator and retired Quidditch player. Fawn was spreading around the rumor that I had lost control of my temper, and my unrestrained magic had pushed her out of a third story window. I do lose control of my temper (a lot), but I just hit people. But I am violent, so I guess people believed it. Or at least believed it was more possible that me being pregnant... who would want to have sex with _me_?

The rumor changed the way people looked at me; they started looking scared when I looked at them, and it made me even more antisocial than I had been before. Lily and Helen were the only ones who stuck by me. It made my whole year awful, until I finally told my dad about it in a letter, and he wrote a letter to Witch Weekly, "in response to the rumors in the Wizarding World", saying that his wife had died of breast cancer, and coming from my dad, of course it was published. The fearful looks of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws changed to timid, apologetic smiles, and I smiled back at them, just glad that the rumor had gone away. The Slytherins were still mean to me, but that's just reassuringly usual, and of course, Fawn and Gemma were mean to me too, but nothing they could have done would have been worse than everyone believing I had killed my mother.

I see Lily look over at James and Fawn again. For someone who tries to deny that she likes James, she is really possessive of him. Fawn is now perched on James' lap, talking to him closely, in a way that makes it nearly impossible for him not to look down her extremely low cut robes. I look back at Lily, and see her face fall, and then without stopping to think, I make up my mind. I take a breath, not to think it over, although there is a small voice in the back of my head, saying, "Maybe you should count to ten," but to gather my confidence. I stride over purposefully and slap Fawn's face. I'm a bit embarrassed about fighting like a girl, because really, slapping -- can you get more sissified? I wasn't able to punch her, though, because she was sitting down, and wasn't at my level, and I wasn't going to say "Get up and fight me!": one, because it sounds totally lame; two, because I'm not one to use my words when I can hit someone instead; and three, because, to be honest, I wasn't in control, and I don't know what would have come out of my mouth if I had tried to talk. Probably "Gight up and fet me!" or some other garbled phrase.

The slap worked the way I had planned, and Fawn stood up and grabbed my hair, pulling it aggressively. I hate fighting with girls. Next thing you know, she'll be biting me, and tomorrow I'll have marks from her French-manicured claws up and down my face. Everyone in the Common Room forms a circle of about four meters in diameter around us, and that restrains either of us from running away. Not that I would ever run away from a fight. I kick her in the shins, and she lets go of my hair, but gets in a slap across my face. Okay, enough of this. I punch her in the face, aiming for her nose, hoping to break it, but she moves at the last millisecond and I hit her eye. Excellent, that will be nice and dark for a month. To even it up, I go for the other eye, but before I make contact, she steps back and pulls her wand out of her pocket. Oh great. I like hitting people, but to tell the truth, I really don't like dueling at all. It is so much more satisfying to get that fist against skin contact.

I reluctantly take my wand out of my pocket, and at that moment, "Expelliarmus!" is shouted by two male voices. We both fall backwards on our butts on the hard tiled floor, and skid for about a meter, forcing the Gryffindors in the circle around us to step back quickly. My butt is definitely going to be bruised tomorrow. I watch my wand fly over to Sirius Black, while Fawn's goes to James; the Gryffindors who are watching go back to what they were doing before the fight. I stand up solemnly and march over to where Sirius is sitting in a red and gold brocade armchair. I put out my hand expectantly, and his mouth turns up into a lopsided grin, and he gives me this look, as though he can't believe that I think he will give me my wand back after that.

"Oh come on," I protest. "I've had my two fights for the day. I promise I will not try anything else tonight."

He laughs openly at me and I glower at him. "I will give you back your wand in the morning," he says with an air of benevolence.

"Wonderful," I say, my voice soaked with sarcasm.

He says, softly now, "You aren't afraid that Fawn will turn you into a mouse while you're sleeping, and then bring you to the Great Hall tomorrow morning and feed you to her owl?"

"Is that what _you're_ afraid of?" I ask in a belittling way. Sirius looks surprised, probably because everyone else in the school treats him with the veneration he has come to expect, being the demigod he is. I consider what he has said, and decide he's probably right. I sign defeatedly. "Thanks for your concern," I say sarcastically, turning and making my way up to the dormitories. It's probably best that I appear asleep when Fawn comes up, so I at least don't have to deal with her tonight.


	2. Chapter Two

My eyes fly open as I hear a screech. I rub my eyes and yawn, and my day starts off splendidly as I see Fawn's face in the mirror. Evidently, it was she who woke me up with her scream. She has a beautiful dark purple circle around her eye, and is now trying to conceal it with some type of makeup. She ends up looking pretty bad. If I was her, I would wear my black eye proudly. As it is, I don't wear makeup much anyway. I sometimes wear eye makeup on special occasions, like the Halloween Masquerade and the Yule Ball last year, but that's it. Lily says it makes my eyes jump out at you, and I should wear it more often because I have 'gorgeous' eyes, but eyes jumping out at people sounds kind of scary to me. I have one brown eye and one blue eye, and I don't think they're gorgeous, I think they're weird, as Fabian Malfoy, other Slytherins, and Fawn have told me... But right now, my eyes look hella better than Fawn's.  
  
I smile at this thought, but restrain myself from telling her this, as she really is not a morning person, and can be quite dangerous around this time. Instead, I slip out of the room, escaping her notice for the moment, as she is intensely concentrating on beautifying her face. I take a quick shower, then go back to the dormitory. Fawn shoots a nasty look at me, and curls her lip back to say something, but decides against it, closing her mouth. Fine with me, I am actually feeling rather congenial and mellow this morning. I pull on the usual, a sweater and pants with the school uniform, a black robe, over.  
  
Then I do my hair. It might seem like I'm the kind of person who doesn't care much about her appearance, but I am actually rather particular about my hair. My hair is pretty blah. Helen's is straight and blond, and very fine and soft; it feels like my pet rabbit Lumpy, who I got for my fifth birthday. Lily's hair is a lovely shade of red that I fully envy. My hair is boring brown, although sometimes, when I'm in low light, and other times, when I'm in the sun, it looks reddish or goldish. That may be wishful thinking, though. Anyway, to compensate for my hair's dullness, I've gotten quite skillful at doing hair. I sometimes even get recruited, by brave upperclassmen who aren't afraid I'll beat them up, to do hair before dates and stuff. I just really like playing with hair. My hair is naturally frizzy, but I can both coax it into nice curls and make it straight. Today doesn't feel like a curly day, so I make a bunch of twists going back into an elaborate twisty bun, and then spray it with some Magical Hold Hairspray.  
  
Then I skip happily down to the Common Room, where I see Sirius Black sitting in an easy chair, looking a bit awkward, unaccompanied by his friends. He greets me with a slow smile as he sees me enter. I half-return the smile before I remember that I am pissed at him for taking my wand away.  
  
"You look considerably happier than last night. What happened?"  
  
"I woke up and saw Fawn's face," I can't restrain the Cheshire cat grin that spreads across my cheeks. He shakes his head, laughing at me.  
  
I scowl. Only my dad and brothers and Helen and Lily can laugh at me like that. "What's so funny?" I demand.  
  
"You," he says easily. "You're such a headstrong, impulsive, cheeky girl."  
  
I don't know how I should take this, so I ignore it. "May I please have my wand back?" I say primly. How's that for manners, Sirius Black?  
  
His smile fades away, and he reaches into his pocket and pulls out my wand. He hands it to me wordlessly. "Thanks," I say, then turn and start toward the portrait hole.  
  
"You don't know how to take a friendly observation, do you?" he says to my back.  
  
"I do from people who are my friends," I say, without looking back at him.  
  
Sirius is silent.  
  
Once outside, I pause and take a deep breath. Does he think he can just automatically be friends with me? Friendship is something that is earned -- I value my antisocial reputation -- okay, that is a lie. But why on earth should I trust Sirius Black? He is a spoiled, rich, arrogant show off who thinks he's Merlin's gift to women. And why does he always laugh at me? I hate it!  
  
I go down to the Great Hall, and sit down next to Ellen. I take a bite of French toast and my day is _back on track_! My agitation at Sirius laughing at me fades away, and I pat the wand in my pocket, feeling whole again after a wandless night.  
  
My first class of the year is Potions, which thrills me so much I get about seven orgasms. Just kidding. Maybe it was only three. I have hated Potions for ever and always. The professor, Old Gloppy, or Professor Glopton, isn't bad, he is just very old, and a little bit blind and deaf, so he has trouble controlling the class. The thing that makes Potions so extremely vile is that we have it with the Slytherins. So the Slytherins are always making fun of me and teasing me, because one, I'm a Gryffindor; two, I'm a misfit and easy to make fun of; and three, they love it when I get into fights with one of them.  
  
Today is no different. Xavier Zabini and Ken Parkinson start teasing me, saying I'm all sexually frustrated and I want to bonk Fabian Malfoy, because I jumped on him and beat him up last night. Yeah right. Okay, so maybe I do have a little sexual frustration, but Malfoy? I would rather kiss a Dementor.  
  
On the bright side, I'm doing a really good job of ignoring Zabini and Parkinson and controlling my temper. I'm really proud of myself. Until my potion explodes on me. Damn... I kind of forgot to mix it when I was concentrating on not losing my temper. Gloppy is pretty mad, in his mumbling, bumbling way. I tell him, "Well, at least it exploded _before_ we put the griffin's hair in, because if it'd been after, my skin would probably be peeling off right now."  
  
Gloppy is not amused. "Clean up your mess, Miss Mackenzie. I will speak to you after class."  
  
All the Slytherins laugh at me as I scrub the chunky beige mixture off the rough stone floor. After class, I wait until everyone has left, then approach Gloppy's desk.  
  
He gives me a serious look. "Miss Mackenzie, to be blunt, you are _terrible_ at making potions."  
  
"Well, it only exploded because the Slytherins were making fun of me and I forgot to mix it," I appeal.  
  
"The potion was supposed to be a rusty brown at that stage, anyway. Yours was off-white."  
  
I bite my lip.   
  
"Your potion-making skills are years behind where they should be - did you practice over the summer with the book I recommended?"  
  
I shake my head. I did get the book in Diagon Alley, but when it's summer, I just can't sit inside. And then, when I'm outside, I've just got to be in the air. And then, when I'm on my Pegasus 404, well, I can't just sit there. And it's hard to read when I'm going fast. I tried it once and flew into a bird. It died.   
  
Gloppy clears his throat. "I see three options. You can drop this class, since you are in your sixth year and no longer are required to take it, you can move into a class with younger students, or you can go through intense peer tutoring."  
  
I immediately rule the second option out. Being demoted to an easier class - I would never hear the end of that from the Slytherins, not to mention Fawn and Gemma. And my dad would not be pleased if I stopped taking Potions; I think it was one of his favorite classes. "I'll do the tutoring."  
  
Gloppy gives me a look as if he's sizing me up. "You had better start today. You have a _lot _of catching up to do. Go to the empty classroom near the Henric the Giant statue after school, and I'll send someone to tutor you."  
  
The bell rings. "Crap!" My hand flies up to cover my mouth. "Oops, sorry." I give Gloppy a self-effacing look, and run out the door. I have Transfiguration next, and McGonagal hates it when we're late. I knew this year would be terrible. It gets worse when I run into the Transfiguration class room, trip over a pile of Norah Diggory's books, and do a full face plant-body slam into the floor.   
  
When I come to, Helen and Lily are at my sides, and someone is holding a head of frozen iceberg lettuce to my head. My first thought is that it must be one of Millie Longbottom's attempts at Transfiguration, and my heart goes out to her for her efforts. "Give her some room!" a voice commands. McGonagal. I slowly sit up, then put my hand to my forehead, where I feel an enormous goose egg forming. I expect it will be the same color as Fawn's eye.  
  
"Addie, are you okay?" Lily asks. I try to smile, but it comes out as a grimace. This year is already terrible, and it's only the second day.  
  
I spend lunch in the library to avoid Fawn's accounts of my disasters in Potions and Transfiguration. After relatively uneventful History of Magic, Ancient Runes, and Divination (where I am told, after Professor Wadsworth peers into her crystal ball for several minutes, that this year will be very "interesting" for me - ha!) classes, I head to the empty classroom. It is vacant when I find it, and I sit down at a desk.  
  
A few minutes later, a tall, pale boy with greasy black hair walks in. I recognize him as the Slytherin boy that James Potter and his friends are always teasing. I feel bad for him, but have no desire to be his friend; I get teased enough already.  
  
"Hullo, I'm Addie," I say, extending my hand.  
  
He shakes it, a suspicious look upon his face. "Severus." His voice is cold; it makes me nervous.  
  
"So, um, I'm really bad at Potions, so... hopefully you can teach me."  
  
Severus mutters something under his breath. I wonder what he has said, but decide to ignore it. "The art of potion-making takes great accuracy and precision, not to mention intelligence." He casts a scornful glance at me and my hands tighten into fists. "It requires patience, concentration, and dedication." Shoot. Patience isn't really my strong point. "I believe Gryffindors are often lacking in these areas."  
  
"Hey!" I protest. "That's not nice." He gives me a critical look. "If you don't want to tutor me, then don't. But if you're going to tutor me, then let's call a Slytherin-Gryffindor truce while we're in this room."  
  
"Fine." His face is unreadable.  
  
"Why are you tutoring me anyway?"  
  
There is a pause. "It's none of your business."  
  
"...Okay."  
  
Severus clears his throat. "We'll do a fourth year potion today - an elixir for headaches. It will allow me to evaluate your skills; I assume you'll find it a simple review."  
  
I didn't. In between evaluating my skills, Severus had to intervene three times.  
  
"Stop yelling at me! It's not helping!"  
  
"Don't you know how much a _pinch_ is?  
  
"Of course I know what a pinch is!" I learned how to pinch when I was little to defend myself my brothers; to pinch effectively, there are two main points: one, tender skin, and two, the twist. I reach out angrily and pinch the underskin of his arm.  
  
In a flash, his wand is out. "Expelliarmus!" My wand flies from my pocket to him; he tries to catch it, but fumbles, and ends up stomping his foot on top of it to keep me from getting it. He readies his wand.  
  
I give him a bored look. "I don't fight with my wand." He returns my look with one of disbelief. "Haven't you seen me fighting with Malfoy?" A look of realization crosses his face. I sigh with impatience. "And it was just a pinch, overreact a little?"  
  
He snorts. "Don't you think _you_ overreacted a _little_?"  
  
"You were _yelling_ at me!" I think about it. "Okay, maybe a little."   
  
He smirks.   
  
"But you better watch out; I have a really short temper."  
  
"I'll say."  
  
"Shut up and teach."  
  
"I can't do that, can I?"  
  
"Fine, you can talk. But don't yell at me." He crosses his arms, as if waiting for something. "Please?"  
  
He sighs and looks upward. "All right, a pinch is a measurable quantity. You use a scale to measure it, and it's equal to five grams, no matter what substance."  
  
Half an hour later, I'm exhausted. I hate Potions. I sigh. "Thanks, Severus," I say in a begrudging voice.  
  
"See you tomorrow," he says with a sigh equal to mine.  
  
The common room is nearly empty as Lily, Helen and I do our homework. Lily always forces us to do our homework early, while everyone else is outside having fun. My gaze drifts to the window. The sky is a clear blue, with lazy clouds hanging --  
  
"Addie! Snap out of it!" Lily waves her hand in front of my face.  
  
I tear my gaze back to the common room. "But Lily, it's such a gorgeous day."  
  
"You know you'll never get this scroll on ancient Egyptian wizards done if you put it off," Lily says, quickly becoming absorbed in her own scroll.  
  
I sigh, and the portrait hole swings open. James Potter steps through, carrying his broom, followed by Peter. I eye the broom enviously. It is the newest Cleansweep model. All I've ever had are my brothers' hand-me-downs. James saunters over. "All right, Lily?" This could be interesting. My ears perk up, and I try to watch without being obvious.  
  
Lily looks up from her scroll. "Hullo, James."  
  
"Are you doing homework?" James sounds very surprised. If he really knew Lily, instead of just being infatuated with her, he wouldn't be surprised.  
  
"Yes." Lily sounds like a snob. I make a note in my head to tell her later.  
  
James looks put off. "Wouldn't you like me to take you for a ride instead?" He holds up his broom. "I just got it, I'd love to test it to see if it can hold two people..."  
  
My mouth waters. It is _such_ a nice broom.  
  
"James," Lily says. "I'm not a girl who wants to follow you around and ride behind you on your broom. I'm never going to be 'your' girl or _anyone's_ girl. I'm just going to be Lily, and you can ride behind _me_ if you want, but if you want me to ride behind you, just stop asking me out and let me do my homework."  
  
I stare down at my parchment, trying to look as if I'm not paying attention, while at the same time, restraining my grin.  
  
When James finally finds his voice, after a few seconds, it isn't his normal "talking-to-Lily" tone; it's higher, and a little squeaky, almost as if he were going through poo-berty again. "Erm, right, see you later, then."  
  
He walks dejectedly toward the staircase to the boys' dorms, and I hear Peter ask, "How'd it go, mate?" There is the unmistakable sound of a punch. I snicker. I almost feel bad for James.  
  
"Score for feminists everywhere, Lil!" I say, once the boys have gone up the staircase. "But - not that I'd know much about it - but... it didn't really seem like, well, the right way to get him to ask you out. You were kind of, um, snobby. And I think you told him to um..."  
  
"Just stop asking you out," Helen provides.  
  
Lily groans. "I know, I'm an idiot. I think I've gotten so used to being mean to him, I've forgotten how to stop. But the rest of it was true - I don't want to lose my identity just because I'm his girlfriend."  
  
"I don't think you have to worry about that." We spin around, and find Fawn standing behind us. Woah - so scary! "I've got James wrapped around my little finger. We were getting along _quite_ well last night, until you interrupted, _Adrienne_. In fact, I think I'll go find him now."  
  
My mouth actually drops open as Fawn turns, stalks over to the staircase to the boys' dorms, and goes up the stairs.  
  
"I hope she gets pregnant," I say. Lily's face falls. "Not that James would actually sleep with her, even though you've just rejected him, and knowing him, he is in desperate need of an ego boost, and has no clue that you actually like him..." I wince. I really need to learn how to control my mouth. And my temper. 


	3. Chapter Three

_Thank you so much to all my reviewers!  
  
In particular:  
  
Naoko-san: Thanks for the advice, it is a good point, although I'm afraid this chapter isn't much better. :o(  
  
teknocat: My first repeat reviewer!  
  
Ganymade: I don't believe it says that Lily is in the same year as the Marauders, but I'm not quite certain. About Adrienne's inclination towards fist fights, I thought that kids from magical families don't get their wands until they're 11, either. Adrienne learned to be rough when she was protecting herself from her older brothers. And she just got more violent after her mum died.  
  
tougy, Darcy, and Nanners0474: Severus or Sirius? Hmm... pasty skin or flying motorcycle... but that comes in later... ;o) Actually, we'll see. Addie doesn't really like either or them much.  
  
Happynutcase: I like the fights, too.  
  
And everyone else, too! Please keep reviewing and tell me what you think.  
_

It is not until after dinner, when McGonagal comes into the common room and shouts "Adrienne Mackenzie, please report to the common room" up the girls' staircase, that I remember that I was supposed to have detention after school. Crap. I drag my feet down the stairs, knowing that McGonagal doesn't like to be kept waiting, but dreading my inevitable scolding. And in front of all the Gryffindors, too. This year is turning out to be terrible. And you can't say I didn't tell you.  
  
When I get to the common room, everyone is watching inconspicuously out of the corners of their eyes, except for Fawn, who is looking on appreciatively with a smirk of anticipation. McGonagal can sense this, but is clearly irritated, and decides that she does not hold my thin outward cover of dignity in high regard. "Miss Mackenzie," she greets me, her hands on her hips.  
  
"Professor McGonagal, I'm really, really, really sorry," I say, before she can say anything else. "I just had to go to, um," I can feel the eyes of everyone in the room on me, and blush with embarrassment. I continue, my words coming out faster and faster. "Tutoring, for Potions, after school, and I completely forgot." I swallow, and meet her eyes with a remorseful look.  
  
McGonagal returns my look with a stern one of her own. "You will make up your detention tomorrow evening," she says. "And, to keep you from forgetting detention in the future, you will have two additional detentions, and ten points will be taken from Gryffindor."  
  
As she leaves, many of my fellow house mates shoot me murderous glares. As a fifth year boy opens his mouth, I say, "You say anything, I'm kicking your ass," I look around the room. "That goes for all of you." Fawn opens her mouth. "Especially you, Fawn."

* * *

That night, I cannot sleep. I look at the clock, and it is around two in the morning as I stare up at the darkened ceiling, my hideously embarrassing blunders of the day replaying over and over again in my mind. I don't cry, ever; Lily has told me that physical fights are my way of letting go of tension, instead of crying, or yoga, or whatever else people do. I'm not sure I agree with this, but, with no one to beat up, and no reason to beat someone up, I am left trying to sleep, only to see my potion exploding, McGonagal reprimanding me in front of all the other Gryffindors, me tripping in Transfiguration class, my uneasy Potions tutoring all over again. I decide that to burn off my negative energy, I need to go for a walk.  
  
I put on my dark crimson cloak , a Christmas present from my Aunt Fran, who only sends me clothes in Gryffindor colors. She is very big on the Mackenzie family Gryffindor tradition. I then sneak down the stairs and, finding the common room abandoned, I peel back a floor-to-ceiling lion tapestry, and enter the passage it conceals, which I found last year when I was hiding from Fawn. The passage leads to a tightly-wound spiral staircase which seems to go on forever. I trot down the stairs, and, after a good five minutes, find myself behind another tapestry on the ground floor of castle. After some furtive glances, I walk to the nearest exit, which leads out onto the western side of the castle.  
  
The night is bright, with the stars and full moon lighting the grounds, and I find myself wishing I had an invisibility cloak, because my figure would be clearly visible to anyone looking out of the castle. I walk quickly, my legs beating out my frustration and agitation, and after a while, my mind becomes more peaceful. I start back toward the western side of the castle, but stay on the edge of the Dark Forest, where there will be a lesser chance of me being seen.   
  
Abruptly, the peace of the night is disturbed, as I hear the thrashing of an animal running through the undergrowth of the Dark Forest. My heart begins to pound; it could be any number of possibilities, from an injured unicorn to a wild boar. I begin to back away from the Forest, and take my wand out of my pocket, readying myself for the attack of a dangerous wild animal as the increasing volume of it tearing through the brush indicates it is coming nearer.  
  
An enormous, light brown wolf breaks out of the forest and sprints toward me. "Furnunculus!" I yell the first curse that comes to mind. Boils break out on the wolf's face, and, presumably, under his fur, but just seem to enrage him, as he growls and continues running at me. "Stupefy!" I cry, flicking my wand at the beast, as another animal runs from the forest and tackles the wolf. Through the darkness, the other animal seems to be a large, dark-colored dog, and as I look more carefully, I realize the unconscious animal whose neck it is holding with its teeth is a werewolf. I turn and run.  
  
When I am finally inside the castle, my heart thudding against my ribs, from both my sprint to the castle as well as my fear, I look out a window, and can make out the two figures. It looks almost as if they go back into the forest together. I shake my head, telling myself that that is a stupid thought, and think back to the mysterious dog who appeared out of the forest at just the right moment. My heart surges with gratitude for the dog, and my head is filled with questions. Why was the dog roaming at night? Does it have an owner? What made it save me from the werewolf? Wouldn't most dogs be afraid of a werewolf?  
  
With my head filled with questions, I am careless in the way I walk back to the passage, which is a few minutes walk away, as I did not enter the castle through the same door I left it. I hear the approach of footsteps, sprint to the tapestry, and run up the stairs. When I reach the common room, I'm about to have a heart attack, but I feel like my luck has changed. If I had been caught, I surely would have gotten detention, and points would have been taken from Gryffindor, too. And, now that I think about it, with the luck I brought to Hogwarts, I probably would have bitten by the werewolf.  
  
My luck has changed. That dog must be lucky._ I have the next chapter all written, I was actually writing it as part of this chapter, but it got too long. I will post it when I get 10 reviews. Or maybe 12. I got 13 for the last chapter, but since this one is short, I'm not expecting as much. But the next chapter is a gem, and the sooner I get those reviews, the sooner it'll be up. Leave me some good ones!_


	4. Chapter Four

The next day, everything just goes my way. Okay, actually, it doesn't.  
  
Potions. What happens? I'll give you three guesses, and the first two don't count. So my potion explodes on me again. It's supposed to be a 24-hour heating potion, which stays a constant temperature and keeps anything you put in it warm for 24 hours. But mine isn't. I'm looking at someone else's potion and trying to figure out why my potion isn't a pale green, and when I go back to mine, it has this huge bubble on the top. I'm thinking "uh oh", and then, it explodes.  
  
It gets all over me, and I run to a sink and wash it off. Gloppy totters over in his version of a sprint. He looks rather horrified, and I'm totally freaked out. I hope it's not poisonous. "You made a coloring potion, not a heating potion. You reversed the amounts of the chopped birch root and the powdered walrus blood, and put the unicorn hair in too early!"  
  
"What's a coloring potion?" I ask, my throat tightening with dread.  
  
He harumphs at this, as if I should know. I probably should. "A coloring potion dyes everything it touches the color of the liquid." I look down at my hands, which I've washed the potion off, and then self-consciously bring my hands up to my face. "It seems you've washed the potion off your skin quickly enough, but your robes will be that color semi-permanently. Some potions last longer than others. I doubt yours will last longer than this semester."  
  
"Addie! Your hair..." Lily says from behind me.  
  
Okay, I don't faint, like one of those wussy girls in Muggle movies, but everything around me does get a little blurry, and I completely disconnect from the outside world, like when I found out that my pet rabbit Lumpy had died.  
  
"Miss Mackenzie? Miss Mackenzie?" I kind of hear Gloppy's voice from far away.  
  
"She's in shock. Can I take her to the bathroom?" Lily asks.  
  
Gloppy looks confused, but gives his consent. I'm in a daze as Lily firmly leads me to the girl's bathroom. She pushes me in front of a mirror. "You have to look sometime, you might as well face up to it," she says.  
  
I don't want to do it. I know what the color of the potion was. It was blue. Bright blue. Not sky blue. Not ocean blue. Not an understated navy blue. Bright blue. Bright blue like something cheap and plastic. Bright blue like an unripe Bertie Botts Every Flavor Bean. Bright blue like... Hey, I_ like_ it. I stare at my reflection in the mirror, and put a hand up to my hair. My reflection does too. I can scarcely believe it's me. I look at Lily and grin. She looks at me with a puzzled expression. "I like it, Lily," I say. "It's... fun!"  
  
Lily gives me a relieved smile. "Well, it's definitely attention-getting. Now, aren't there any boys you want to get the attention of? How about that Sirius Black?"  
  
I give her a cynical look. "Lily, he's a year older and he only goes out with popular, beautiful, cool girls. Like I have a chance with him?" Lily, for some reason, looks crestfallen, and I realize that she is relating what I've said to her situation with James. "I mean, my chances with him are about a million times worse than yours with James; James actually likes you." Or, he did, anyway. At one point. I shake my head at my pessimism. "And I'm not even attracted to him, he -"  
  
I'm cut off by the bell, and I'm glad, because I have no idea what I would have said next. As Lily and I walk to Transfiguration together, I remember. "He's self-centered, and stuck up, and mean," I say eagerly. Lily rolls her eyes, a half-smile on her lips, and I cross my arms, frustrated. "Really, Lily, you just must be blind to it, because you can't see any of that in James..."  
  
Her arm flings to the side automatically, hitting me in the stomach, reproaching me for mentioning the secret crush in public.

* * *

When I walk into the Great Hall for lunch, the entire Slytherin table stares at me, laughing their heads off. I ignore them and sit down in my usual place.  
  
"Adrienne, what_ happened_ to your hair?" Fawn shrieks as I spread my napkin out on my lap.  
  
"Fawn, you know damn well what happened to my hair, and if you don't, I consider you the singly most stupid witch on the planet. You were there in Potions."  
  
"Oh, that's right," she turns to the seventh years. "Adrienne's potion exploded on her! She's so dumb; she couldn't even make a heating potion correctly!"  
  
I frown and help myself to some macaroni and cheese. The best thing to do is just ignore it. My hands clench into fists and I can sense Helen and Lily giving each other a look, getting ready to restrain me if my temper flares. I stare down at my plate, concentrating on not getting upset, my appetite gone.  
  
"God, what's your problem, Fawn?" I hear a deep voice say. I look up cautiously. It's Sirius. He's sticking up for me. _He's sticking up for me?_ "I happen to like Mackenzie's hair." He likes my hair?  
  
He likes my hair! Wait, who cares if Sirius likes my hair? I'm not one of _those_ girls. Still, I'm able to smile to myself at Fawn's speechless look. Sirius looks my way and gives me a grin. Bet he feels all noble, sticking up for the pariah. I quickly pull the corners of my mouth down and give him a stony glare. I didn't need his help; I'm perfectly capable of duffing Fawn up. A crease forms between his eyebrows as he looks away.

* * *

After comfortingly normal afternoon classes, I head to the empty classroom, filled with apprehension, for my tutoring. The boy, Severus, looks up at me with a cold look as he hears me walk in, but his expression changes to one of surprise when he sees my hair.  
  
"Weren't you at lunch?" I ask.  
  
"No," he says, as if he had better things to do.  
  
"Don't give me that tone of voice, I bet you were hiding out in the library like I was yesterday."  
  
His face shows only the slightest disclosure that I am right.   
  
I meet his glare with a smart aleck smirk.  
  
He looks upward as if he thinks I am dim.  
  
"I know I'm right."  
  
"If you're so clever, why's your hair blue?"  
  
"Maybe I wanted it that way."  
  
"_Maybe_ your potion exploded on you. Again." He crosses his arms with his own smart aleck smirk. "Let's get to work. If you continue to be this bad at Potions, you're going to kill yourself one of these days."  
  
After an arduous hour, I leave the room, pleased that I only made two mistakes. "Cheers, Severus," I say.  
  
"See you tomorrow."  
  
I give him a half smile, and he looks away.

* * *

I report to McGonagal's office right after dinner. She isn't there, so I sit down at a desk in the back to wait.  
  
"So, what did you do to get detention, anyway?" The voice is cool, with a teasing lilt to it.  
  
My ears recognize my champion of the lunch table, but I don't turn to look at him. "Guess," I say in a flat tone.  
  
The voice sounds a bit confused now. "I told James not to report your fight with Fawn to McGonagal." Sirius comes into my view and sits sideways in the seat next to me, so he's facing me.  
  
"Oh, different fight." Sirius raises an eyebrow. I wish I could do that, but I think it escapes everyone except popular, egotistical people who know they're hot. Or maybe my eyebrows just don't have the coordination. "Fabian Malfoy," I respond to his eyebrow's question.  
  
"You _really_ like to get physical with him, don't you?"  
  
I scowl. "He's the one who always starts it."  
  
"As I recall, you're always the one who jumps on him," replies Sirius dryly.  
  
I shoot him a nasty look as Professor McGonagal walks into the room.  
  
She nods a greeting to us. "Miss Mackenzie, Mr. Black. You will be cleaning the mouse cages." I start over to the side wall that has about twelve mouse cages along it. "Without magic." McGonagal holds out her hand, and I place my wand in it, as does Sirius. "There are supplies in the cupboard in the back of the room. I will return in two hours."  
  
Sirius and I start toward the cupboard. As we get out supplies, there is an awkward silence between us. Usually, I don't mind awkward silences, even delight in others' discomfort in them, but for some reason, I don't like this one. "So what did you do to get detention, then?" I ask, filling my bucket with water.  
  
Sirius' ears get a little pink. I watch him closely. Could he be blushing? "I fell asleep in class, then, um..." he laughs uncomfortably. "I transfigured McGonagal's quill into a vibrator." He looks down at his bucket, as if he doesn't want to meet my gaze, fills it with warm water at the sink, and adds some soap.  
  
"You idiot!" I stare at him. "What, were you trying to get a detention?"  
  
He meets my eyes with one of his Lothario looks. "Maybe."  
  
I roll my eyes. That trying-to-be-sexy look doesn't work on me. "Puh-leeze." I think about what he had said. "Do you have a crush on McGonagal or something?"  
  
"Hardly!" He scoops some soap bubbles from his bucket and flicks them at me. I scowl and dip my sponge in my bucket, then throw it at him. He laughs and splashes me with water from his bucket. I gasp and return the splash. The water fight continues, and, in a few minutes, I'm surprised to find myself laughing with Sirius. When I run out of water, I run to the sink, and begin to fill my bucket. I glance back over my left shoulder, and not seeing Sirius, turn my head to look over my other shoulder, right as he dumps his bucket of water over my head. "Ah! I'm going to get you so good!" I yell.  
  
Sirius grabs me by the waist and pulls me away from the sink, spinning me around so I'm facing him. "No, you're not," he says in a teasing tone.   
  
I struggle to escape his grasp, and then look up at him defiantly. "I could knee you in the groin right now," I say.   
  
He just looks into my eyes and laughs, and I find I cannot look away. We stand there for a few seconds, just stand there, and I find my obstinate look softening.  
  
My heart fills with terror as he begins to pull me closer. What am I supposed to do? Say? What is going on? Why is he just looking at me like that? I frown up at him, as the door to the classroom opens.  
  
"Black!" Sirius quickly steps away from me, and I have this odd feeling that the place where his hands had been resting is now cold and exposed. I turn my head and see an enraged McGonagal. "Mackenzie!" Her mouth is pinched and her eyes are shining with anger. "An extra detention to you both! Clean this up now!" She slams the door behind her.  
  
Later, I look up from my mopping with a yawn. Sirius is looking at me, and catches me yawning.  
  
"Tired?" he asks.  
  
"Mmm."  
  
He gives me a lopsided grin. "Me too. I was even falling asleep in my classes today. I was ou -- up late last night."  
  
"Yeah, probably shagging some girl." I roll my eyes. Sirius starts laughing, and I turn a deep crimson as I realize that I said that out loud. That's what happens when I get too comfortable around people. I stare down at the puddle I am mopping up, trying as hard as I can to stop blushing. It never works.  
  
"Nah," Sirius says.   
  
"Well, you weren't studying," I say, then reconsider. Somehow, Sirius is able to both goof off and get excellent marks. "Were you?"  
  
Sirius cracks a grin at that, too. "Nope. Anyway, what were you doing last night?"  
  
I wonder why he is interested. "I took a walk outside," I say. "Couldn't sleep."  
  
"You're not scared, walking alone at night?"  
  
"No way." I think of the werewolf. "Well, not until last night." Sirius raises an eyebrow as we move on to clean the cages. "See, there was this werewolf, it just came running out of the forest, and then there was this dog - well, I knocked the werewolf out with a curse, but I don't know how long it would have lasted. The dog tackled the werewolf, see." I give a small smile. "So I really owe a lot to the dog; I left it some bacon by the forest this morning, but that's really not enough, and it'll probably get eaten by some other animal, so I'm going to go looking for it later."  
  
Sirius looks quite distressed. "Don't go out tonight," he says with concern.  
  
"Why?" I ask, questioning his concern as much as his reason.  
  
He tries to put on his normal countenance. "The moon's still full," he explains. "Werewolves are out for three nights."  
  
"Oh," I say, puzzled and touched by his concern.   
  
The conversation moves on, and only later, do I realize he never did tell me why he was up late last night.

* * *

A/N: So... I felt sorry for all of you who were pleading for another chapter, so I updated before I said I was going to. Don't count on it happening again. I want a good 10 reviews this time, and I'm not done writing the next chapter, so think of your reviews as inspiration for some minor writer's block. I thought this was a good chapter, what did you think? Bad stuff? Good stuff? Funny stuff? Happiness-making stuff? Spelling and usage mistakes? Just please review. Thanks. 

Oh, and this chapter is dedicated to hunni07, the first person to review the third chapter, and the one who left the longest review yet.

RemmysGal: No, Addie, Lily and Helen are in sixth year, and the Marauders are in seventh year.

Nanners0474: Maybe... you'll just have to wait and see. Same to you, SiriusLives001!


	5. Chapter Five

"So how's the Quidditch team looking this year?" I ask as I walk into McGonagal's room the next evening after a hot and stuffy afternoon of classes and my tutoring session.  
  
Sirius is sitting at the desk he sat at yesterday afternoon, and I slip into my former seat next to him. He turns and greets me with a lopsided half-smile and a nod. "Well, James is the captain and the seeker, Adam Whipple and Mickey Bell are chasers, and I'm a beater, but we've got three spots open. We're having try outs." His eyes light up. "Hey, you ought to try out. Quidditch runs in your family, doesn't it?"  
  
I think of the intense competition at family reunion Quidditch games, and the stories of how my dad would take me for rides on his broom until I fell asleep when I was a baby. "Yeah." I grin. "When are tryouts?"  
  
"This Saturday," Sirius says. "You'll be there?"  
  
He holds my gaze with his eyes. "Yeah," I say sharply, breaking eye contact and looking down at the desk.  
  
"I could practice with you before, if you want me to," says Sirius.  
  
I look back at him, surprised, but his face looks completely genuine. I don't pass up chances to play Quidditch. "Okay."  
  
McGonagal walks in and clears her throat. "You'll be washing the windows today. Your wands, please?" Sirius and I reluctantly hand them over, and then she leaves. I head over to the cupboard to get cleaning supplies.  
  
"So, do you... like James?"  
  
I spin around. "No... What would make you think that?"  
  
"Well, you did get into a fight over what appeared to be him..."  
  
"Oh, that," I say flatly, getting out a bucket and bringing it to the sink.  
  
"Yeah, that."  
  
"Well, no, I'm not in love with James. Li--," I gasp, and look at Sirius to see if he heard.  
  
He is grinning. "Lily? Lily Evans? James' unrequited love is no longer unrequited? His beloved returns his feelings?" I just sit there, feelings of guilt for letting out Lily's secret overwhelming me. I have no idea why I feel so comfortable around Sirius, but it is definitely not a good thing. "Hey, come on; don't feel bad that you let it slip." He pauses, a thoughtful look upon his face. "I can't believe it. She has rejected him so many times. How long has she liked him?"  
  
I shrug, my eyebrows drawn together in a worried look. "Are you going to tell him?"  
  
"Well..." Sirius thinks about it. "I think they need to figure it out themselves. If only they could..." Sirius seems to be thinking, but his eyes look me up and down, settling somewhere between my eyes and my chest. "Just get their lips on each other."  
  
The corners of my mouth perk up into a half smile as I contemplate Lily and James finally getting together, and Sirius' weird look at me promptly leaves my head.  
  
"We could lock them into a room together," suggests Sirius, a note of desire in his tone.  
  
I shake my head. "It has to be romantic. And it has to seem like an accident; Lily can't know that we're trying to get them together."  
  
Sirius strokes his chin thoughtfully.

* * *

After our detention, it's still light out. I look longingly out the windows we pass on our way back to Gryffindor Tower, thinking that there's enough light left for a good half an hour of flying, and that it must be a nice temperature, with the heat of the day leaving as it grows dark. At one window, Sirius' and my conversation completely breaks off as we watch the light of the setting sun sparkle on the lake, craning our heads back toward the window as we continue walking. As we turn our heads back to face forward, we both recognize at the same moment that we are doing exactly the same thing, and start laughing at ourselves.  
  
"Do you want to go play Quidditch _now_?" Sirius asks, after.  
  
We pass another window and I can't refuse. "Definitely."  
  
We alter our course, heading now to the broom shed, chatting amiably on the way.  
  
Once in the broom shed, I get the '73 Pegasus from my cubby, and turn around to find Sirius looking at me incredulously. "_What_?" I ask defensively.  
  
"Nothing," he shrugs. "I just thought you were from a family that's big on Quidditch – didn't your dad play for Manchester?"  
  
"Yeah, he did; I just get all the hand-me-down brooms."  
  
Sirius makes a face, and pulls down a new Phoenix model from his cubby. Its red chrome-looking handle sparkles in the fading sunlight, and my mouth starts watering, but I quickly pull myself together. "Nice," I comment dryly.  
  
Sirius shrugs again. "Birthday present." He looks pityingly at my broom. "You can try it, if you want, and I'll ride James' broom. He won't mind."  
  
I go through an internal battle between my ego and my desire to try it. My ego wins. "That's all right," I say. "Peggy is better than she looks." I make a mental note to find out about chrome paint. Perhaps blue - it could match my hair.  
  
Sirius raises an eyebrow, and my heart surges in defense of my broom. "Hey, want to race?"  
  
Sirius looks like he is trying to keep from laughing. "Sure," he says in a patronizing tone.  
  
"For a Galleon," I say, then wince internally. A Galleon is quite a bit of money.  
  
Sirius hesitates. "Aw, come on Mackenzie, it wouldn't be fair," he says. "Your broom is..."  
  
"Chicken?" I challenge.  
  
Sirius laughs, shaking his head. "You're crazy... but you're on. What distance?"  
  
It's my turn to shrug. My broom is about the same at all distances. "You can choose."  
  
"How 'bout to the big rock on the other side of the lake?" Sirius still has an uncertain look on his face.  
  
I smile. "Okay." I look down at the Peg and smooth its bristles.  
  
Sirius and I ready ourselves outside near the entrance to the shack.  
  
"Ready?" Sirius asks.  
  
I nod.  
  
"On your marks, get set, go!"  
  
We leap onto our brooms and are off. The air whizzes by; we're neck and neck. I look over at Sirius. "You're shitting me. That's a Phoenix."  
  
His face betrays his guilt.  
  
"Stop holding back!" I scold him. "You pussy!"  
  
Sirius speeds up. I knew the 'pussy' would get him. I stick with him, and he looks over at me, surprised that we're still neck and neck.  
  
"Faster than I thought it would be," he comments.  
  
I just smile, and lean forward slightly, increasing my speed.  
  
Sirius looks even more astonished. He matches my speed.  
  
"You're going easy on me because I'm a girl," I growl. "I don't believe that that Phoenix doesn't go faster than this."  
  
I look down at the lake. Time to make my move. I squeeze the broom, asking it to go to the next level. And it does. All the work on it over the summer paid off. Perhaps I should have told Sirius, I think. That I was going easy on him, when he thought that he was going easy on me. I pull away from him in an instant, and as I look back over my shoulder, his face is a portrait of shock. I grin, the wind in my hair and the boy on my tail. Sirius increases his speed, but the Phoenix is no match for Peggy.  
  
I am waiting for him when he gets to the rock, my head cockily tilted to one side, a triumphant smile upon my lips. He is grinning, and starts laughing as he gets off his broom, looking at Peggy. "Damn, that broom is amazing. Where did you get it? How-?"  
  
I grin. "It _is_ a hand-me-down... just a... souped up hand-me-down." I look down at the Peg fondly. "It was this summer's project."  
  
Sirius looks gobsmacked. "You fixed it up yourself?" he croaks.  
  
"Oh, well, yeah. I always play around with the brooms I get from my brothers. You know, charms, stuff like that. But a lot of it isn't just the charms, I dunno..." I look up at Sirius and smile. Damn my ego. "I fixed one up last summer to be an invisibility broom."  
  
Sirius' mouth practically drops open. "You're kidding."  
  
"Nope..." I struggle to explain. "I'm just... good with brooms..."  
  
Sirius stares at me. I look away uncomfortably. "Adrienne Mackenzie, you are one ace girl," he says, sounding very impressed.  
  
I blush. "You can try it out if you want."  
  
Sirius looks thrilled.  
  
"And I've got a few others back at the shed... This one's just my racing broom. I've got the invisibility broom, and then one that's meant to be sturdy, you know, like a Beater-type broom. That one, it's one of the '65 Cleansweep models, and it's got a cruise-control type thing on it, and anti- nausea charms, I did that so I'd be able to study and fly at the same time, but that never actually happened.  
  
"And then I've got the Nimbus, it's my trick broom, for showing off and fooling around; it's really light, but it stays stable when you're flying upside down, and I put a bunch of protection charms on it, to keep the rider from getting hurt... And then there's the one I'm working on now, it's a Wizard's Choice, but I'm not really sure what it wants to be yet..."  
  
I've been looking at Sirius during my narration, and he looks like a little boy in Zonko's. "Anyway..." I say.  
  
"You are amazing."  
  
"Shut up." I scowl and shove the Peg at him. I can only take so much flattery. He looks a little dazed, but gives me his Phoenix. It pulses in my hands, and my temporary mood swing is replaced with eagerness. "Race back?" I ask.  
  
"You're on!"  
  
I leave him behind at the start, but I'd been expecting him to have a little trouble with Peggy. I push the Phoenix to its limits, knowing that Sirius will overtake me as soon as he can get control of the Peg. The Phoenix is light and nimble, and quickly responds to even the slightest urging, but doesn't seem to have much personality. I've found this in almost all of the new brooms I've ridden, and have come to actually prefer older brooms.  
  
Halfway there, I risk taking a look back, and see Sirius catching up. He hasn't found that extra level yet. I streamline myself over the Phoenix, making myself as aerodynamic as possible.  
  
But in another minute, Sirius is eye to eye with me. He gives me a mischievous grin. "This broom has _power_!"  
  
"Ask it for more," I smile, knowing what will come. "But ask nicely." A moment later, Sirius surges ahead of me. I lean into the wind, knowing I don't have a chance to catch him, but not minding: after all, it's my broom.  
  
By the time I reach the broom shed, Sirius is zooming around it. He pulls out of the turn and slows down when he sees me. "This broom is the dog's bollocks!" he declares with a grin. "It moves like the wind, and it turns like honey, too."  
  
I smile at his enthusiasm for my latest baby. "I'm going to go get the others," I say, going into the shed. Once inside, a thought strikes my mind and I smile to myself. I take down the invisibility broom, a '75 Pegasus, and get on it, still inside the shed. Being careful to do so quietly, I grab some golf balls that Seekers use for practice, and fly out of the shed.  
  
Sirius is hovering outside, and I urge my broom upwards until I am about eight feet directly above him. I drop a golf ball and it hits him on the head, bouncing off sideways and falling to the ground. His head snaps up, and, seeing nothing, a look of confusion crosses his face, and he looks from side to side, and back over his shoulder. I drop another ball, and this one thumps him on the head too.  
  
He looks up, realizes what is happening, and grins. He pulls his broom into action and drives it in my general direction. "Betcha can't catch me," I say in a teasing tone, dodging his advance and throwing a golf ball at him.  
  
So I kind of let Sirius catch me. Okay, not just kind of. I do. He corners me up against a tree, bracing his hands up on the tree on either side of me, pinning me between his arms.  
  
We're both silent a moment, Sirius knowing as well as I do that I've let him catch me.  
  
"Have you ever been kissed when you were invisible before?"  
  
I'm so shocked, I start to laugh. What a random question. "No." I've never been kissed when I've been visible either. Hey, maybe being visible is the reason. This invisible thing could work for me. "Have you?"  
  
He actually has to think about it. "No," he says, taking one hand off the tree to run it back through his wavy dark brown locks. "There's a first time for everything, though."  
  
Knowing he can't see me, I don't bother to roll my eyes. How many girls' first kisses has he perpetrated? And the hand in his hair thing – does he do it every time, or only some of the times?  
  
"It would be messy," I say. "You might ruin your reputation as the best kisser in Hogwarts."  
  
He groans.  
  
"You know you like it."  
  
He frowns. "I'm sick of it. I'm different now."  
  
"How many girls have you said that to?"  
  
He looks away. "A few," he says in a darker voice. "But I mean it this time."  
  
My invisibility emboldens me. "Sirius, you're very cute. Some girls even say you're gorgeous. And you are funny, and intelligent." My compliments seem to roll off him, and his mouth turns down into a frown. His lips look very kissable. But no. I am telling him why I'm not going to kiss him, or do anything with him, aside from playing Quidditch. "But I just don't believe that it's different 'this time'. Have you ever been just friends with a girl?"  
  
Sirius' face falls. He sighs. "No."  
  
"Sirius," I say more quietly, his name rolling off my tongue with a certain ease that makes me uncomfortable. It definitely shouldn't do that. "I like hanging out with you. I like playing around on brooms with you. But..." Sirius gives me a plaintive look and my words die in my throat.  
  
I don't know what it is he does to me, but it's like he's in control of my mind. I no longer believe anything I've just said, and the last sane corner of my mind asks me if this is Imperio. I'm compelled to lean forward, even pull him toward me, and I know why the girls who accuse him of being a player go back for more. No. Bad.  
  
"Sirius..." I try again, but it comes out sounding like an invitation, even to me.  
  
"Adrienne...?" Sirius says my name slowly, like a question.  
  
I don't say anything, not trusting myself to even open my mouth. Mouth. Sirius' mouth. So inviting.  
  
"Godammit, I can't see you," Sirius says. "I don't want to kiss you if you don't want me to. If you want to take it slow," he lets out a breath of air through his mouth. "I will do the best I can." He grins. "You just do this thing to me – I dunno – it's not me who's different, like I said before. It's you."  
  
"Oi, Padfoot," a voice calls. "Moony's back!" We both look down. It's James, with Peter and an ashen-looking Remus.  
  
"What are you doing up there, Sirius?" Peter yells up at us.  
  
Sirius turns his face back my way, and looks for me, but I know he can't see me. I don't say anything; I just leave. I can't tell if he feels it, but I think he does, from the way he freezes, paralyzed, under the tree's foliage, with the fading sun dappling his skin through the leaves, kissing him, the way I did.  
  
It was only on the cheek. I repeat this again and again in my mind as I fly up to my dorm window. But being around Sirius is dangerous. I had wanted to tell him that I only wanted to be friends with him. That he's an ass when it comes to girls and I knew he would just forget about me once he got what he wanted. That I liked our relationship the way it was. Now I've kissed him on the cheek, and I don't know what I want anymore.

* * *

So sorry this chapter took so long to post, the past few weeks have been crazy with so many projects for school. And I hope you liked it, because it will be all there will be for the next couple months. I'm leaving to work at a camp on June 16 and I'm not getting back until August 23... So I would check back at the beginning of September, and then maybe a month later. If I haven't posted more by then, I may have abandoned this story. :o(

Notes to reviewers:

Jenn - I may take you up on your beta reader offer when I get back.

magicalferret - I agree, about more resistance toward Sirius from Addie. But he's just irresistable. Nah, it will be coming.

Donzabobo - you're welcome, and I'm glad you laughed hard. I would like to make an abs workout video that it just insanely funny, and you laugh really hard through the whole thing and work your abs.

kiwaussi, Happynutcase, LadyofRavindor, and especially teknocat - my most dedicated reviewers! Thanks for sticking with me.

randomblinx - sorry, I didn't update quickly. :o(

RemmysGal - Nah, there's nothing between Sirius and Addie. ;o) But I dunno about him leading her on... he does that to a lot of girls.

Stridybarius - I agree, he is a cutie.

Star of the Muses - I also like blue. Bright red would have been nice too, my friend's hair got bright red, kind of by accident, and it looks really good.

hunni07 - :o) pizza.

Please review this chapter... it is very encouraging and motivating. And don't forget about this story; check back at the end of summer! And have a fantabulous summer everyone!


	6. Chapter Six

I can hear his theme song in my head as I watch him saunter into the Great Hall for breakfast the next day. Disgusted with myself, I turn away. How can I be falling for him?

Sirius goes out of his way to approach my seat at the Griffindor table, looking at me with an eager, puppyish, almost vulnerable look. "G'morning, 'Kenzie," he says, almost as a question, without his usual grin.

"Morning," I reply, indifferently, not making eye contact. I don't look up until he has retreated to his usual place at the table.

I've decided to ignore any incidence of a kiss last night, thinking he probably won't bring it up. I'm just not sure how I'll get through detention.

But what if Sirius meant it when he said he would try to take it slow? Maybe I'm confusing him… Yeah right. That would be rich. He always knows exactly what he's doing, with his prepackaged lines about "you're different" and having to think about if he's kissed anyone when he's been invisible before, and that gorgeous – I mean, lady charming – grin.

My day goes pretty smoothly – I don't get the formula exactly correct in Potions, but while it is not the correct texture or consistency, it is the right colour, and it doesn't explode! I forget about my preoccupation with Sirius, and by the end of the day, I'm practically walking on clouds. It's funny how a normal day for everyone else is heaven for me.

Unfortunately, I'm reminded of Sirius just as soon as I walk into the tutoring classroom.

"Are you and Sirius an item?" Severus asks demandingly as I step through the doorway.

"What are you talking about?"

"The way he looked at you this morning – you're his latest conquest, eh?"

"Were you watching me?"

I think I detect a faint blush under the waxy pallor of Severus' cheeks. He gives me a dark look and I convince myself I must have been imagining. Severus never blushes, even when James and Sirius make fun of him.

"Of course not," Severus snaps. "Sirius is always out to get me; I try to keep my eye on him."

"Oh," I shrug. It makes sense; it's the same thing I do with Fawn. "Anyway, no, we are definitely not an item, and I am not his latest conquest. We just have detention together a lot, and it's hard not to get to know someone a little bit when you're cleaning mouse cages with him. Kind of like tutoring," I offer.

Severus is still looking at me like he doesn't believe me, and I realize that his trust in me has been put in jeopardy by my budding friendship with his enemy. "Look, Severus, it's a detention thing. We have a tutoring thing, and it's not like either of these friendships – if that's what they're called; I mean, you're a Slytherin and I'm a Gryffindor, and if anyone heard me calling you my friend, it would be a pretty bad time – anyway, it's not like either of these are going to go anywhere outside where they started."

Severus' usually angry scowl seems to hold another emotion; he looks sort of nauseous. Maybe it's because I called him a friend.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have dropped the f-bomb," I say. "We can have a strictly tutoring relationship.'

He shakes his head. "Adrienne," he begins, and I'm struck with how earnest his voice sounds. "I want to be your friend." He looks around nervously. "Do you have any idea how sick I get of the Slytherins? I don't like them. They're so ambitious, always trying to one-up another, never just being themselves. And then I got asked to tutor some remedial student, and I say yes, of course, because I'm always trying to gain teachers' favor, and I walk into the room and I see you –" he looks into my eyes. "You're a breath of fresh air, Adrienne. For all your pinching and whining and toughness… I like you."

Wow. How do you respond to something like that? 'That's pretty much the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me'?

"Thanks," I end up mumbling, staring at the desktop. "Um… I guess we should start today's potion?"

"Sure," Severus says, a bit of a sigh of defeat in his tone. I guess I'm not the most encouraging person in the world, and I'm suddenly struck by a desire to reciprocate his kindness –

"And let's do be friends, even if I'm a Gryffindor and you're a Slytherin… we will hide it though, won't we?

"Oh yes," Severus says, and he smiles, momentarily, like a kid on Christmas morning. I think it's the first time I've ever seen him smile genuinely.

Maybe it's that I've reached a new level of comfort in tutoring lessons, and can fully concentrate on the task at hand, or maybe I'm actually learning, or more likely, some combination of the two – but for the first time, I make the potion correctly on my own. It's not perfect, but I feel so proud and happy.

"That's it! You're done," Severus says.

I look up, my lips pursed and my brows pushed together. "It's right?" I ask. Severus half-smiles and gives me a nod. "It's right!" I jump up, knocking against the table and causing a bit of the potion to slosh out. "It's right!" I pull Severus into a hug, before quickly releasing him to wipe up the spilled liquid that is approaching the edge of the desk. Severus stands there frozen a moment – he does seem like the type that doesn't get hugged much in his family, I think; contrary to what you might think, with people I'm fond of, I'm just as quick to hug in rushes of fondness as I am to hit in flares of anger – and then he starts to help me clean up.

A couple minutes later, I wave goodbye to Severus. I walk on clouds all the way back to the common room, where I try to concentrate on homework with Lily, and – get this – choose to do my Potions homework first. I'm still in a land of sunshine and rainbows all through dinner, and I don't even taste the lousy porridge that is the product of, according to what I hear from Fawn down the table, "the house elves slacking off again."

Sirius waits for me after dinner, and we walk to McGonagal's classroom together. Most of the Gryffindors and a lot of the other students are watching us are we walk together. Screw them. So what if I'm the only one who thinks we're just friends; we are! Dammit.

On the way, we chat amiably about Lily and James.

"What does Lily like?" Sirius asks, trying to get a feel for her personality.

"Oh, um, well, she likes reading... and studying... and cats... oh, and she likes dancing quite a lot, too."

"She likes to study?" Sirius looks a bit sick. "You don't, do you?"

"Gosh no! I hate it – I'd do poorly in my classes if Lily wasn't my friend. She's always on my case about studying – she means well though… What does James like to do, then?"

Sirius grins. "Pull pranks, play Quidditch... but I suppose he likes books all right, too."

We are silent for a moment, then look at each other. "The library!"

"Okay, so how should we do this?"

"Well, we could each bring one to the library, and then get them in the same area, and then collapse some shelves around them, so they're trapped together, or something," Sirius says.

"Or something," I smile, as we enter the empty Transfiguration classroom. "You know what that would mean, though."

"What?" Sirius asks.

"More detention."

"Detention? Detention's only bad when you're not there."

My heart leaps into my throat, and I turn to face Sirius, reaching out and grabbing his hands. "Sirius – " I manage to say through my closed up throat, although it probably comes out funny. "I want to be fr-"

A pained look of realization flashes across his face, the most real emotion I think I've ever seen on his handsome façade. "Don't," he pleads, as I finish,

"-iends."

There is a moment where his face is a portrait of dejection, and I want to kiss him, rescue him from the despair on his face, now more than ever. I am saved from this mistake, however by McGonagal's entrance.

"Mr. Black, why are you here? You don't have detention."

Sirius' face returns to its usual mix of ironic coolness and good-natured, likeable warmth. "What? No detention? That's… great!" His voice is practiced, but I detect notes of relief and regret beneath it. "I'll see you around, Mackenzie." He turns his back on me, and walks out, but there is something missing from his usual saunter.

And detention is nothing without him.

* * *

Yikes! I wrote a chapter to this old, old story! And I actually wrote an additionalchapter and more, so perhaps if I'm persuaded by reviewers, I will continue. Sorry, to any of my long ago readers, that I didn't update for so long. Much has happened since then... first kiss, first boyfriend, first Australian kiss, first orgasm, first love, going to college, first random make outs... Anyway, I'm probably more qualified to be writing a story about love now. So review! Oh, and I couldn't think of what Sirius' theme song would be (in the first paragraph), so I left it out; tell me what you think his theme song would be!


	7. Chapter Seven

I lie in bed, staring at the dark folds of the canopy above me. For a day and a half, I've been in an odd mood, all introspective and quiet and emo. I can't help but wonder if I made the right decision. What if Sirius meant it when he said I was different? And what if I've gone and ruined it now? Sirius and I haven't talked since I told him I wanted to just be friends; I don't know if it's possible for us to be only friends.

I miss the way Sirius laughed with me, even when I wasn't laughing. No, that's a bad way of putting it. I guess what I mean is that he laughed at me in such a nice way, I didn't really mind that he was laughing at me. I miss his grin and the way his voice got tender when he said certain things, and the way he called me 'Kenzie' and the way he looked at me, like if I smiled at him, it would make his life. Maybe I _was_ different to him.

Now he doesn't even look at me. He has avoided any eye contact in the Great Hall by staring gloomily at his plate, just picking at his food. I think I might have hurt him. And I don't think I can fix it. I still don't know what I want, still don't believe that I would be different, that after he got what he wanted, I wouldn't become like all his other girls. I don't know if he's ever gotten rejected like this before; maybe that's why he's in a funk – it's threatening his sense of self or some other mumbo jumbo that I've passively absorbed from Lily's psychological analyses of Fawn and Gemma and James and me.

And now Quidditch tryouts are tomorrow and I don't know if I should go. Helen is trying out; Lily has been encouraging the both of us, but I've just been more or less silently brooding for the past day and a half. I can't sleep.

I roll out of bed and drop gently to the floor. I look out the window and see a not-quite-full moon, open my trunk, and pull out my cloak. I grab my wand, quietly open the door of the dormitory and step out.

In five minutes, I am on the grounds. I hesitate before starting toward the lake. I don't feel the need to walk out my negative energy like I did when I took my last midnight stroll; this time, I just want to sit and stare at the gray water.

When I'm almost at the lake, I think I hear a whisper behind me. I spin around, but nothing is there. A little embarrassed at my paranoia, I turn back around and continue.

I pick a soft patch of grass to sit on, and draw my knees up to my chin, my arms wrapped around them, not because I am cold, but because I am lonely. I sit there, not really contemplating anything, but instead just not thinking, for a while. I become so lost that I don't notice the dog until he is right next to me.

I stare at him for a long moment, and decide that he is the large, black dog who saved me. I hold out a hand cautiously and he nudges it with his nose. I instantly wish that I had brought some food with me. "Sorry, puppy, no food tonight."

He – wait, is it a he? I wonder – I feel a bit embarrassed checking. "Hey, buddy, are you a boy or a girl?" I ask. The dog seems to smile – no, that is the wrong word, of course; it just opens its mouth, but it does look like it is grinning – and turns in a circle before sitting down, giving me the opportunity to view the sac hanging between his back legs, underneath his large bushy tail.

Sitting beside me, his head stands taller than mine. His fur is shaggy, but not tangled. I reach over and pet the sleek black fur between his ears. "Your fur is so soft," I say. "You couldn't be a wild dog. Do you have an owner?"

The dog turns his head and nuzzles my cheek with his wet nose. "Ahh, you're snuffling me!" I complain, smiling for the first time since yesterday's detention. The dog pulls back, a little tentative. "Oh, Snuffles, we are going to be friends," I say, hugging his warm, furry body.

The dog cocks his head to the side and looks at me inquisitively. "Snuffles," I say. "Do you like that?" The dog seems to think about it, and then wags his tail. "All right, then, Snuffles."

I look back out at the lake, and it doesn't seem so gray anymore. Moonlight plays golden on the ripples, and the water itself seems a montage of blues, greens and blacks. I let out a satisfied, peaceful yawn, and lay back onto the grass to look up at the stars.

Snuffles gets up and then lays down right behind my head, his front legs on one side of my shoulders and his back legs on the other. He lets out an inquiring whine. "What is it?" I ask, raising myself up to look at him.

He cocks his head to the side, then looks back at his belly, gesturing to it with a head bob, and I suddenly understand that he wants me to use his stomach as a pillow.

"You are so sweet, and so intelligent," I tell him. "You must have had an owner. Are you lost? She must miss you so much." The dog seems to shake his head, no.

I look up at the moon. "Thank you for saving me from the werewolf, Snuffles," I say sleepily, not really paying attention to the words coming out of my mouth. "I will always be grateful to you. And I'm already so fond of you. I wish I could be your owner."

This comment is greeted by the sound of an enthusiastic tail thumping on the ground. "Oh Snuffles," I whisper, my eyes closing. "I…" my mouth widens in a yawn, and my voice trails off as I drift into slumber.


	8. Chapter Eight

I awake the next morning with sun in my eyes. I sit up and find myself underneath a tree, my cloak tucked around me like a blanket. I look around, trying to separate what really happened – falling asleep next to the dog – from dreams of strong arms around me, my butt and back warm and cozy, nestled next to – that must have been the dog keeping me warm, I decide. Snuffles. I wonder if he pulled the cloak around me like this, as he really is uncannily intelligent, but decide it must have been me. Come on, he's a dog.

I amble happily to the Great Hall for breakfast. It is a new day.

"Are you going to tryout for the Quidditch team?" Helen asks me at breakfast.

I cock my head to the side, considering it. "Yes," I say, definitively.

Helen, Lily and I go out to the pitch early to fly around and get loosened up. Well, Lily actually doesn't fly, although I offer her my Cleansweep so that she could just hover; she sits in the stands and pulls out some Muggle book – _Swept Away with the Wind_, or something – and looks as happy as a clam. Actually, no; I've never seen a really happy clam, maybe because I'm always about to drop them in a pot of boiling water; she looks as happy as a cat curled up in a sunny window.

"So Hel," I say. "What position are you going to try out for?"

"I was going to ask you that," she says. "I don't want to try out for the same position as you. So I was thinking Chaser or Keeper, if you wanted Chaser."

I consider this. Helen has the speed and agility that suit both positions, but her skillful ball handling and ability to see openings in defense make her an excellent Chaser. It's probably best for Gryffindor to have Helen in this position, which leaves me with Keeper and Beater. I've always enjoyed playing Beater; it goes with my affinity for hitting things, I suppose. But Sirius is the other Beater. I haven't had too much experience playing Keeper.

"You try out for Chaser," I say, as Mickey Bell and Adam Whipple, the team's two Chasers, who are in our year, enter the pitch, followed by a string of about ten fellow Gryffindors.

"Are you trying out for Beater, Mackenzie?" Mickey asks, a note of distress in his voice, as he looks back over his shoulder at the line of people who want to try out.

I shrug, as James comes onto the field. "Okay, Keepers, come with me; Chasers, you go with Mickey and Adam; and Beaters, you wait here for a moment." Helen, a Seventh Year girl, and three younger kids go with the Chaser group; and Gilly Bell, Mickey's younger sister, who is a Fifth Year, and two other kids head toward James. The only person left is me.

I look around, suddenly struck by nervousness, when I hear a too-familiar voice behind me. "Adrienne?" I hate that girl. I look over my shoulder to see Fawn, dressed in sparkling new baby blue Quidditch robes.

I look down at my own: too big, faded and stained irreparably from innumerable tumbles. I'm filled with pride; these robes are Oliver's old practice robes from when he was on the Gryffindor team. My family would be so proud if I made the team, if I were to carry on the family tradition.

"Adrienne, that is you," Fawn greets me icily. "I've heard Sirius has been saying he never wants to see you again. I'm not surprised that he thinks you're as repulsive as everyone else does. Well, I'm planning to cheer him up; no one else is trying out for Beater, so I'm going to show him my moves and, if everything goes as planned, we'll be spending a lot of time together so he can help me." No wonder Mickey sounded nervous.

Sirius steps out of the broom shed onto the Quidditch pitch. He looks momentarily shocked when he sees me, but swallows and collects himself. "Are you two trying out for Beater?"

"I am," Fawn tosses her hair. "I think Adrienne was about to leave, though."

Okay, this is not even about me being possessive of Sirius. Well, maybe I feel a tiny twinge of jealousy. But it's mostly that Fawn would be a disgrace to the Quidditch team. Really. I cannot step down with Griffindor's best interests in mind.

"Actually, I was planning to try out for Chaser," I say. "But plans change, Fawn."

For some reason, a lot of the Bludgers I hit fly straight at Fawn. And if you could see the way she deals with them; to even imagine that she could be a Beater! She's so tentative in her approach to receiving the Bludger. I'm so pissed off at her that I'm not even thinking about Sirius as I let steam out with each swing of my bat.

But when, after watching Fawn's lame returns for a while, Sirius intercepts the Bludger and sends it back to me forcefully, I receive it with a hidden smile. _This_ is Quidditch. He lets the other Bludger out, and we play hit for a while, keeping them skillfully under control. After a couple of minutes, Fawn interrupts, "Is it my turn now?"

Sirius turns to her with a skeptical look. "Sure," he says fairly. "'Kenzie, take a couple minutes off."

He called me Kenzie! I'd missed the way that sounds. And it is so nice to hear it again. Maybe this decision to tryout for Beater will be a good thing; maybe we _can_ be friends. In my joy, I begin to fly in loop-de-loops, just messing around, until I realize that Sirius, Fawn, and half of the rest of the kids on the field are staring at me. I quickly bring my broom back to the level Sirius and Fawn are flying at and hover, my arms crossed, staring stonily, if purposelessly, at the stands across from me.

"Show off," Fawn mutters.

"God, Fawn," Sirius says. "Give it a rest. I don't want an attitude like that on the team."

"Fine," Fawn says huffily. "I'll just leave. Good luck with this screw up as your Beater."

I set my mouth in a scowl as Fawn soars to the ground and stomps into the broom shed to return her broom.

Sirius gives me a look. "It looks like it's you and me, Kenzie."

My glower melts, and my chest feels light again. "I guess this means I should start working on my Cleansweep broom, the Beater-type one I told you about. Maybe some protection charms, probably something to give it more speed…"

Sirius smiles.

"And I could fix up your broom, too, if you wanted. 'Cos we're a team now."

He breaks out in a full-out grin and thrashes a Bludger at me. We hit back and forth until the end of tryouts, and I only get hit once, in the shoulder, when I become distracted by watching Helen score a goal across the field from me.

At the end of tryouts, James has everyone stand in a circle so he can give the "everyone-did-a-great-job-this-will-be-a-hard-decision-we'll-post-the-results-in-the-Common-Room-by-supper-this-evening" speech.

After the speech, I'm in the broom shed, caring for my brooms, giving each one attention – I often feel bad that I can't give each one all of my attention; that's the drawback of having multiple brooms – clipping the few stray pieces of straw, kind of chattering to them – I know, it is kind of embarrassing to admit that I talk to my brooms, when I hear someone enter. Okay, so I know, it's pretty immature, but I'm afraid they've heard me talking to my brooms, and I don't want the rumor that I talk to myself spread around school, so I climb into the broom cubby to hide, before I get a better idea, and mount my invisibility broom.

I hover in the center of the shed, and see that the people who entered were Sirius and James.

"I just don't want her to be a distraction, mate," James says with concern in his voice.

"She won't," Sirius protests. "She isn't even interested in me."

"Yeah, but you're not over her," James says. "This is the first time I've seen you too upset to eat. Even with all that crap with your parents last year, you were still eating."

"Prongs, buddy, I'm getting hungry," Sirius says in a smooth tone. "I fully plan to eat lunch."

"Only because you have hope now," James argues.

Sirius tries a different tack. "James, she's an amazing flyer. She's better than I was when I started playing Beater for Gryffindor." I blush with pride. "We have a couple months before our first match; she could be as good as me by then."

"Or we could work with Geoffrey Weasley; he's got pretty big arms."

"James, that's not fair; the position should go to the best person."

"We have to take into consideration that you two will have to be partners."

"We'll be wonderful partners," Sirius says, a bit of dreaminess in his tone.

James smirks. "I never thought that Sirius Black would get this way over a girl."

"She's not just 'a girl,' Prongs," Sirius says in a deep tone. "She's amazing. The way she rides a broom, damn..."

"Gets you thinking about her riding other things?"

Sirius gives him a dark look. "I would be happy just to hold her."

"Sure you would."

"And she's so clever, she's fixed up a bunch of hand-me-down brooms; you have to try out her Pegasus sometime, I'm sure she'll let you. And she has an invisibility broom, and –"

"I know, Sirius. I've only heard about five times already."

"And her eyes, and her freckles… and her hips," Sirius lets out a throaty groan of appreciation. "I never really understood that saying about leaving something to the imagination until detention with Addie, when her robes got all wet and started clinging to her. Before, I would have said Fawn and Jeanie and Gemma and all those other girls know what's up, with their tailored robes that cling to their curves. But now that I know Addie has them, I just can't keep my eyes off her, imagining what they look like, under those loose robes she wears."

James looks concerned again. "Sirius, you left us last night to go watch her from afar when you saw her walking to the lake when we were coming back from Hogsmeade under the invisibility cloak. Tell me I shouldn't be worried. Are you going to be able to handle having Addie as your fellow Beater?"

Sirius looks serious. "Yes, I am. I only went to watch her to make sure that she was safe. There are wild animals that come out at night." His stomach lets out a growl. "And I can eat again, Prongsy!" He swings his arm over James' shoulder and steers him toward the door.

I wait a couple minutes before descending to the floor. My entire body feels kind of like it is quivering, and I don't think that I will be able to eat anything for lunch; my stomach feels all fluttery, but not in a nauseous way.

I _am_ different to Sirius. I want to run after him, to grab his hand, to plant a big kiss on his lush, beautiful lips –

But we have to be partners in Quidditch now. And romance screws friendships up; I have seen this with my older brothers and my cousins. My heart falls from its ecstasy as I realize that even though we could have been, I have to take the greater good of the team into account now. I mean, we clicked so well just practicing today; if we got together and it got messed up, or if he hurt me and I kicked his ass, we wouldn't be able to cooperate anymore. I don't cooperate with just anybody. I'm selective.

The sacrifices I make for Quidditch, for Gryffindor, for the Mackenzie family tradition… we had better win the House Cup this year, that's all I've got to say.


	9. Chapter Nine

Over the next few weeks, I settle into a pleasant, busy life. School, potions tutoring – I'm onto fourth year level potions! –, Quidditch practice – Helen and I both made the team, as well as a fifth year, Gilly. I'm even too busy to get into trouble, and for once, I don't have detention.

Even without detention, I still see Sirius often, particularly at Quidditch practice. And we always seem to find ourselves lingering after practice… he'll ask me about one of my brothers and how their team has been doing, or I'll start taking care of my brooms and he'll come over and just start chatting about nothing.

I've also started spending more and more time with Snuffles. After a couple nights of accidentally falling asleep outside with him, one night, he half led, half pushed me into an opening in a clump of bushes. Inside was a mattress, all set up with pillows and blankets, hidden in a clump of bushes. Sketchy – right? I don't even want to know who put it there – probably Sirius Black, now that I'm thinking about it… ooh, I feel angry, I _don't_ want to think about that.

Anyway, I don't really think about what else has happened on it, especially since I've been sleeping on it so often lately. Lily and Helen actually noticed my early morning returns, and they were kind of weirded out when I told them I've been sleeping with a stray dog.

"Well, he's not really a stray," I amended my words, after they had brought it up at supper. "He's kind of mine."

"Um… okay," Lily said. "And you've spent the past three nights outside to sleep with him?"

I blush. I'm not sure why I'm embarrassed. It's not like I should be embarrassed about sleeping with a dog, even though he is quite clever for a dog, really, and reminds me of a person quite often, and when I'm sleeping with him, I always dream of strong, male… human… arms around me, and my bum all nuzzled up against a guy's package, and warm breath rising and falling on the back of my neck.

Um, doggy breath. So shit, I've definitely got a reason to be embarrassed. I'm apparently aroused by a dog and perhaps interested in bestiality.

But no, not bestiality; all my daydreams – yeah, I've had daydreams… fucking shit! – have been about the dog turning into a human, the perfect guy, who will sweep me into a kiss.

It happens in "Busty and the Beast," right? Or was that "Beauty and the Beast"? Some Muggle fairy tale Lily told me about…

I decide this might not be the most appropriate time to clarify the plot of the story with Lily, as she is still looking a bit concernedly at me.

"Uh, forget I ever said anything about it," I mutter. "I just sleep better in the fresh air, and I like looking at the stars. And maybe a warm, furry friend doesn't hurt…" I wrap a couple slices of meatloaf in my napkin, and put it carefully into a pocket, then notice Lily and Helen looking at me oddly. "Dogs eat too, you know. Gosh."

Despite Lily and Helen's concern, I sneak out later that night, dressed in my nightgown with my school robe over – in case anyone sees me in the morning – and make my way to the mattress. As usual, my canine companion is already there, dozing, but he awakens at the sound of my footsteps. He springs off the bed and trots to me eagerly, wagging his tail in welcome. I set down the napkin from earlier and unwrap the meatloaf, but he ignores it, preferring to snuffle my face with his wet nose.

He really doesn't have dog breath. It actually seems kind of minty. Weird.

"Oh Snuffles, how are you, my dear?" I run the tips of my fingers over the thick black fur on top his head and down around his ears. "How has your day been, buddy? I wish I knew what you did all day; if only you could talk." I've gotten used to his quietness, and have compensated for it with uncharacteristic chatter of my own.

I sit down on the edge of the mattress, and he lays down on it, putting his head on my lap. I continue chattering, on everything from getting molasses cookies sent from Aunt Fran to how sore I am from Quidditch practice, stroking his head, and occasionally caressing his puppy-soft ears or scratching behind them.

"And then there's my partner, Sirius," I say. Snuffles looks up with interest in his big black dog eyes. "Oh, honey, don't worry. No, no, no. It's not like that. We're partners, team mates – romantic shit screws stuff up. And I don't like him that way, anyway. I mean, he is cute and good at Quidditch and smart and fun to be around, and seven-tenths – maybe more – of the girls in school like him, but…" my voice trails off. I think I'm included in the seven-tenths. "Anyway, I don't like boys. I like dogs." I kiss Snuffles on the top of the head.

Later, we are cuddled up underneath the blankets, facing one another, and Snuffles licks my face in a good night kiss. I giggle and groan simultaneously, wiping away the dog slobber, and then kiss him on the nose. "Oh Snuffles, if only you were a boy…" I say, my eyes closed.

And then there is a hand over my eyes. I recoil, afraid, and reach out instinctively for Snuffles. Instead of his long, thick fur, I feel a warm – bare? – human body.

"Don't be scared," a warm, low tenor quickly says. "But don't open your eyes – promise."

As thoughts race through my head – Snuffles, this hand, "Beauty and the Beast," – I begin to relax. Despite the freakiness of the situation, I trust Snuffles, and instinctively know that this voice belongs to my companion.

"Okay," I whisper, closing my eyes.

The hand slowly uncovers my eyes, then traces one finger down the side of my face and along my jawbone to my chin.

"Adrienne," the voice is full of warmth and affection. It seems familiar, in a way; I become sure he is the boy from my dreams.

"But what – " I draw in a sharp breath of air as the finger makes its way down my neck and across my collar bone. It is ticklish, but in such a delightful way. "What is your name?"

"You can call me –" he chuckles as I gasp again, this time as he runs his finger down my side. "Snuffles." He shifts his body so he is kneeling over me, a knee on each side, and I am relieved to feel that he is wearing boxers. I feel a feather-light kiss on my forehead. "I like that almost as much as the sounds you were making."

I feel heat run through my body and let out an involuntary little whimper.

He places his hands behind my head and leans toward me, grazing my nose with his, lowering his lips toward mine but pulling back just before they touch and slowly Eskimo kissing me again.

He seems to be in no rush to get to the actual kissing, while every tendon in my body is tensed in expectation of this event, yet powerless to advance it. I feel helpless, frozen, completely vulnerable – and I like it.

Snuffles kisses me on the bridge of my nose, then places a feathery peck on each eyelid, and trails kisses across my cheek to my lips. Hovering above them, he hesitates, and asks, his voice husky and breathless, "This is okay, right?"

I slip my hand behind his head and pull his lips toward mine.

They are soft and pillowy, and as our lips meet, my body fills with warmth – and desire. Soon his lips become firmer, matching the hunger in mine. His tongue darts at the space between my lips and I open my mouth to let him in. His tongue massages mine, and I explore his mouth, so curious.

After a minute, he closes his mouth, entrapping my lower lip between his. He pulls back, sucking, and using his teeth to gently graze against it as it finally slips out of his mouth. I feel a warm thrill throughout my body and my back arches involuntarily.

As I allow the pounding of my body to slow, I am filled with doubt that this is actually happening. "Is this a dream?" I ask, uncertain.

"A dream come true."

He runs his hand over my forehead and back through my hair, and I can feel him admiring me. My brow wrinkles with frustration at my desire to open my eyes, to look at him, but I keep them closed, contenting myself by entwining my legs around his waist so I can flip him over – a wrestling move learned from scuffles with my brothers – and begin an exploration of his face with my hands.

As I run my finger over his lips, he lifts his head and nips it. I begin to giggle, but as he begins to suck it, drawing it into his mouth and pushing it out rhythmically, my laugh turns into a throaty moan.

"I _love_ hearing you make noise," he says, putting his hands on my waist and beginning to run his hands up my sides. As he gets to my chest, I stiffen, and he immediately changes direction. When he gets back down to my waist, he pulls my body toward his, then unexpectedly envelops my lips with his hot, moist mouth, then pulls back quickly, leaving me yearning for more.

"Don't ever let me do something that makes you uncomfortable, Adrienne."

I nod, still shaky from the sexiness of that unexpected kiss. "Likewise," I manage to gasp, and he chuckles, rolling me over so that he's above me once more.

Again, his kiss is shorter than I would like it to be, as he begins to trail kisses down my cheek, jaw and then… oh. Oh! Ohhhhh. Mmmmmm. This is what they call necking. Wow.

My moans seem to make him hungrier, and he kisses even more voraciously, driving me crazy, before he moves up to my ear. I hear him breathe in and tense, anticipating – I don't know what. The next moment, my ear is filled with hot air, and my head rolls this way and that, as if searching for some position to satisfy this itch building inside of me. He blows into my ear again, this time sucking my ear lobe as he does so.

Who knew ears were so sens – mmmm. All thoughts are dashed away as he carefully traces the edge of my ear with his tongue, continuing every so often to release a steamy breath in its center, finally putting his tongue into middle, all warm and wet…

And then he stops. As I begin to control my body, ending my tossing and whimpers, he says, "You know how you told me all the kids at school thought you were loud and violent, and that's why you don't have many friends?"

"Mhmm." I feel a bit embarrassed about that confidence, now that Snuffles is a human. Who is kissing me.

"Well you are. Loud." He kisses my neck and a moan escapes me. "And violent." He continues kissing until I begin tossing and turning once more, and then stops, teasing me.

"I can't help it," I pout, my voice still containing some of the whimper he arouses in me. "It's just the way I'm made. And you're the one who's kissing my neck."

"I didn't mean it was a bad thing," he chuckles and kisses me. "In fact, it would probably break my heart if you stopped."

Much, much later, he is holding me in a spooning position, our legs tangled together. "Hey Snuffles?" I ask softly, my voice sleepy and my brain already half-dreaming.

"Mhmm…"

"That was… that was my first time doing that."

He takes a long, deep breath and draws me even closer. I wonder if he is feeling possessive, and a smile flits across my lips before I begin to worry that he thinks I'm lame.

As if sensing my anxiety, he speaks. "I can't understand why that is," he says slowly. "But for some selfish reason, I'm very glad about it. I hope you don't think less of me."

"Well..." I say. "No. Actually, I'm rather pleased."

He lets out a throaty groan of appreciation and rolls back on top of me, putting his hand under my head and kissing me hungrily.

"I don't think we're going to get much sleep tonight."


	10. Chapter Ten

I awaken alone on the mattress as usual; this morning, however, I feel the lack of warmth oh-so-much more acutely for last night's heat. As I drift into reality, I begin to have doubts – _really_? A dog-come-human? I suppose he could be an Animagus, I think, as I sit up. I shake my head. _Really_. I need to get a hold on my imagination.

And then I see a bouquet of roses – hastily picked and put together, it would seem – on the ground before me. Among their stems is a folded note.

I unfold it and read.

"It wasn't a dream, my delightfully doubtful darling.

I am very much real, and will be thinking all day of how I will prove this to you tonight.

Until then, I will remain your very own,

Snuffles"

I sink back on the bed and warmth fills my breasts, my stomach, my loins, as the reality of last night sets in. He was so gentle, yet so hungry; I think of how he kissed my ears, my neck, my shoulders, the feel of his hand supporting my head as he pulled me close to him, the weight of his body on top of mine.

The memory that sends a shiver down my spine, however, is the way he noticed every little noise I made, every involuntary movement of my body toward his, every confession I made about how much I liked what he was doing, or how I had been dreaming this would happen. It wasn't just that he noticed, though – it was how he responded, his breath growing ragged, his touch both more gentle and possessive at the same time. It was as if I were some ethereal, fragile object that he thought he could never touch – and now that he had his hands on me, he was simultaneously thrilled, afraid to break me, and terrified of letting me go.

I walk to the Great Hall, late to breakfast, so sleep-deprived that I once again feel as if I am dreaming. I slip into a seat across from Lily and Helen.

"Addie?" Lily looks hard at me. "You look… different."

"I feel different," I giggle.

Helen looks sideways at Lily. I can tell she's thinking, Really? Did Addie just giggle?

I giggle again, and smile dreamily at a window, beginning to replay last night from the beginning, when that hand first covered my eyes.

I can feel Lily and Helen staring at me incredulously. Then I become aware of another set of eyes on me. I turn my head and see Sirius looking at me with eyes full of emotion. There's satisfaction in them, but there's also something else in them – what is it? I shrug and give him a quick wave before turning back to my inner reverie.

Lily and Helen push me into the bathroom as we walk to Potions. Lily fixes me with a hard stare. "Explain."

I grin. "Snuffles turned into a human last night. And we kissed," I look up at the ceiling, "Um, pretty much until sunrise. And he's just so… perfect."

There is a period of several seconds where they both are speechless.

Lily breaks the silence. "Who is he?" she asks sharply. "He must be an Animagus, of course."

"Uh," I say. "I don't really know."

The bell rings, and I move toward the door, but I can feel Lily's worried, disapproving look on my back as we leave.

It's easy enough to shrug it off and return to my daydream.

I almost forget about Potions tutoring that afternoon, but at last minute, remember, do a 180, and head toward our tutoring room.

Severus smiles when he sees me. Seriously. This is how good I've gotten at Potions lately – my tutor is happy to see me.

I do make a couple minor mistakes, but I think it's only because I'm so tired. Severus is actually quite understanding. Then, at the end of the tutoring session, he drops the bomb. "Mc – er, Adrienne, the Yule Ball is in six weeks. I know it's a while from now, but I figured I would ask now, since you'll probably have lots of other guys asking..."

I scoff. "Doubtful." Then it hits me. "Wait. Are you asking me to the Yule Ball?"

Severus swallows. "Yes."

My eyes get wide. I have no idea what to say.

"Would you, er, think about it, then?"

"Uh… okay," I say.

"You'll go with me?" Severus' voice is filled with incredulous, disbelieving joy.

I am speechless once again.

Apparently he takes this as a yes, or maybe he's afraid I'm going to say no, because he grabs his stuff and runs out.

It takes me about 15 minutes to figure out what just happened.

I remain confused until I see Snuffles that night. He's in Animagus form, waiting for me by the mattress, and suddenly everything else just melts away. He cocks his head at me, and I respond, "All right, I'll close my eyes already."

I close them, still standing, and there are a few long seconds of waiting before his strong, warm arms are wrapped around me, his lips enveloping mine. The next thing I know, I am being picked up in the air and spun around, still kissing him. But this spinning is nothing compared to the way my heart is fluttering. Finally, he puts me back down and pulls his mouth from mine.

His voice is ragged. "It has been much too long a day."

He pulls me in close again, but this time it is simply to embrace me. He rests his chin on the top of my head, then puts his head down to take a long breath in-

"Are you smelling my hair?"

He laughs and kisses my forehead. "I love how your hair smells."

He puts his arms around me again, and then I am falling – he is falling backward, and I am falling forward, on top of him. I tense a little, but keep my eyes closed, trusting him. We bounce a little as we hit the mattress, and I am amazed by the strength of his broad chest and abs – he doesn't seem at all bothered that a hundred and five pound girl just fell on top of him like a bag of bricks. Actually, if I had to guess, I'd say he really, really liked it.

"How was your day?" he asks, after a healthy amount of reunion celebration.

"Ugh, better now," I say.

Snuffles' arms loosen, becoming gentler, and he pulls one away and begins lightly tracing patterns on my back. "What happened?" he asks, with – truly, breathtakingly, frighteningly – the most concern I've ever heard expressed in two words.

"It's not that bad!" I cheerily try to reassure him. "Just, my friends are all concerned that I don't know who you really are, and that's kind of stressful."

Snuffles sighes. "Why _do_ you trust me, Adrienne?"

I ponder the question. "Well, you did save me from a werewolf. Even when you were just a dog, I felt more comfortable and safe than with anyone. And maybe it's also partly that I would wake up in the morning having had dreams of sleeping cuddled up with a guy and hope, wish that…"

"You do know you were actually sleeping with me, this way," Snuffles interjects. "I… couldn't resist."

I smile. "Well, that makes me feel a little less crazy. Lily and Ellen are still pretty skeptical, though."

Snuffles lets out another deep sigh. "I'm sorry. I want to us to be normal, too. More than you can know, actually. But at the moment, it's a bit… complicated."

I contemplate this. The easiest explanation I reach does NOT make me happy. "You don't have a girlfriend, do you?" my voice accusatory, my body tense and ready to react by hitting him.

His reaction is just to draw me closer, rigid muscles and all. "Of course not." He plants a wet, deep, passionate kiss on me, and I begin to respond, relaxing and retracting my claws. The process is interrupted when he quickly pulls away.

"I'm sorry, darling," he apologizes for stopping. "I just have to take a minute to try to remember everything about that moment. Seeing you jealous, about me, was just so endearing. If I didn't care so much about you, I would purposefully make you jealous just to see your reaction."

"You better not make me jealous," I growl, realizing, halfway through, that he is, once again, loving my reaction. I play it up for his benefit. "You don't even want to know what I'd do if you gave me reason to be jealous."

"What's that?" I can hear the smile in his voice.

"I'd beat you up, of course." He chuckles, so I think of something else. "And then I'd ignore you. AND I'd do things to make you jealous."

Snuffles takes a mock gasp of air. "No! Adrienne! Please, no! I'd… die! … I'd wither away!" his voice changes, growing more serious. "Honestly, though, I'm beginning to think my heart might break without you. Not being able to be with you today, seeing you but… I mean, not seeing you…"

I interrupt. "Are you a student at Hogwarts?"

He gives me a feathery kiss. "Give it a little more time." Before I can ask any more questions, he continues. "Do you know what I did all day? I thought of the perfect pet name for you. Something more personal than 'darling,' and 'sweetheart'."

I am intrigued. The dog-boy knows how to change the subject. "And?" I prompt.

He chuckles. "I'm not sure I'm ready to start saying them out loud. It might be better if I kept them in my head."

It is my turn to let out a mock sigh. "In that case," I say, rolling away from him. "It's getting late. No more kisses for tonight, I think…"

He rolls me back over, and I try my hardest not to give into kissing him back.

He pulls away, finally. "It was a tie," he says. "Between… hurricane and cactus."

I think he expects me to get mad, but I just laugh. "I guess it's a good thing we're not a public couple yet," I say. "It gives me some time to think of an even worse term of endearment for you."

"I look forward to it, my dear cactus," Snuffles replies, planting a soft kiss on my lips.

After that, there's no more talking for a while.


End file.
